What to look for in a Security system in this internet era?

Security of any business is becoming a critical factor to improve your business operations. If an incident occurs, the security guards are your first level decision makers with limited information and authority. Decision makers are informed after a time delay with little and with very little details available. Failure to meet the needs of growing multi-location businesses or executives on the move is one of the major investments.

Same time how to select proper Video Surveillance System for your business is a major concern. Indian market is flooded with Taiwan, Chinese, Korean and Some Indian products and there are multiple options available to choose from. Usually, when you go to a vendor selling security products you do not know what to ask for and one might end up with a wrong product.

Product technology has transitioned from old days CCTV camera to latest sophisticated
IP Based intelligent Video Surveillance systems (Networked Video Surveillance Systems). As market is enjoying the Benefits of internet and IT as whole, now a lot could be expected our of the security systems fitted in your facility.

IP camera systems are good entry level option. If you’re your need one or two camera and would like to monitor remotely IP cameras are nice choice. There are multiple varieties are IP cameras in the market.

But for multiple camera systems , IP cameras do not stream video over the Internet properly. So your need is for more than one camera then you should know that these are the factors that you should consider and ask the vendor the right questions and then make a wise decision according to your budget and requirement.

You should go for a networked surveillance system even if you do not have an internet connection because you can view it locally anyways and you have the option of connecting it to the internet for remote viewing anytime in future. Since the price difference between the traditional CCTV and networked Video Surveillance Unit will be only about 20% more. You will spend on the cameras and wiring any ways.

What you should look in a security product - that is advanced CCTV or Video Surveillance System

1. Storage capacity of DVRs– Make sure your systems provides you adequate days and months of storage for all of your cameras.

2. Secure Access - The IP Video Surveillance System should provide Secure Access – when you are accessing you location over the internet it should have secure access over the VPN (Virtual Private Network). So that there is less or no possibility that anybody can hack your location and get visibility into your facility, shop or business.

3. Extensible Storage - The IP Video Surveillance System should provide Extensible Storage. One should be able to add the storage so that one can save the important data for multiple days or months as required. Also one should be able to save such data over the LAN at different location for security reasons. One should be able to have the option of having extendible Storage through NAS and RAID.


4. Scalable -The networked Surveillance System should be Scaleable and should be able to add local and remote cameras. So the system should be scalable to add cameras and also the storage via NAS and RAID.

5. Different Types of Cameras Support - You might need to use night vision and PTZ cameras. The networked surveillance system should support PTZ cameras and also one should be able to operate the cameras over the Internet and should be able to Pan and Zoom the camera.

6. MPEG4 and H.264 Industry Standard Compliant - The Networked Video Surveillance should be built using the industry standards of MPEG 4 and H.264. One should pay attention to this because many companies might claim to have these but in reality one should see that they are following the standards because this will save you in operating costs and you will need less storage and disk space.

7. Adaptation to Local Internet Band with - The Networked Video Surveillance should adapt to available Internet band with and should not be rigid. If this feature is not there then you will not be able to watch the video at all on fluctuating Internet band with. This will help you to get access from anywhere and anytime.

8. Viewing Multiple Videos over the net in Real Time- If all the above mentioned technologies are used in the product then one should be able to see multiple videos streaming real time on 256 Broad band connections or even on 126 Kbps wireless connections to the laptop.

9. Dynamic DNS Support - The Networked Video Surveillance should provide Dynamic DNS support. This will save you running cost of purchasing Static IP and also many Internet providers especially in developing countries do not proved static IP.

10. Inter-operability over different platforms - Inter-operability with various clients Apple, PDAs, Windows and Linux. So you should be able to access your premises on various types of mobile and stationary equipment and also over multiple technology platforms.

11. Video Management Software - The networked Surveillance System should give have Intelligent video management software that gives administrative rights at various levels so that the owner can assign the appropriate access rights to the appropriate person.

12. Intelligent UPS support – The system should turn off safely when the power supply goes off and it comes on UPS.

13. Preserve latest video in case of sudden power loss- the networked Surveillance System should be able to save the latest data when sudden power loss happens.

14. Local Supply and Support – The system should have local supply and support.

15. Warranty- Make sure that the CCTV, DVR or NVSS has one year warranty and that they will give you the new unit if there is a problem with in one year and you should be able to purchase extended warranty for less than 25% of the product value. This is important because the system can fail and you can loose all your investment in less than a year.

16. User Manual- User Manual should be available with the product. If somebody is purchasing a card and building a system on a cheap computer this may not be there.

17. The system should have the capability and option to record only on motion to save on hard disk and avoid unwanted recording.

18. The system should raise an alert when the camera is not working or is being disconnected for any reason.

19. The system should generate alerts via emails and / or SMS when there is motion and on intrusion or user defined events.

20. Also make sure that the system will work with your existing wiring and cameras so you do not have to incur that cost again if you are replacing your old CCTV unit. You may end up replacing some old cameras with the better cameras and might want to use some night vision or PTZ cameras according to your need.

As you can see that it is not easy to select the proper CCTV (networked) or Networked Video Surveillance System. There is a lot of choice and price range in the market.
We wish you all the best. If you are in mid-market (6 to 64cameras) or higher market (100 +and looking for a Solution can send you a list of products that we recommend. Send us an email at videosurveillance1@gmail.com.